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Natasha touched her chin, pondering for a moment before saying, "Do you mean that this might actually be a blind eye technique?"
Shiller sat down and tapped the table lightly with his fingers, saying, "We can deduce their identity from the tactic they've adopted. First of all, they certainly don't know about the existence of Earth's Magical Defense Network."
Natasha had a sudden realization. She said, "Right, if those monsters really were as they appeared in the video, the Holy Sanctuary would definitely be aware. Although it's Earth's Magical Defense Network, the energy level of this network is already sufficient to radiate throughout the entire Solar System. If there really were monsters living in the sun, how could Stephen cheerfully run off to Centaurus?"
"Let's not forget The Ancient One and Asgard either. They've traveled to and from the Solar System more than once. If there were such a monster, not only would The Ancient One not hesitate to drag it out of the sun and chop it up, but Loki and Thor would also have no reason to conceal it from us."
"After all, Midgard is also one of their important territories. All these so-called monsters are actually subjects of the Nine Major Kingdoms, completely within the monitoring range. If someone smuggled themselves in without permission, that bunch of brutes wouldn't tolerate anyone shitting on their heads."
Natasha nodded in agreement and said, "Then there are only two possibilities. Either this monster's stature surpasses all beings that come and go from Earth's system..."
"Including Eternity and Death, because they've observed this place more than once. Even if Death doesn't speak up, Eternity would definitely remind me; he wouldn't want some day for this monster to destroy Earth and then I come bothering him."
"That possibility is completely non-existent," Natasha said. "If there really was such a powerful monster in the sun, it wouldn't just cause this kind of ghostly incident once it came out."
"Then there's only one possibility left," Shiller said as he straightened up and leaned back in his chair. "This monster doesn't actually exist, but someone wants us to believe that there is such a monster, so they've employed some minor tactics."
"An Illusion Technique?" Natasha frowned. She looked down at the device on her wrist and said, "But I haven't detected any residual magic energy near the Photovoltaic Integrated Device. The instrument built by S.H.I.E.L.D. is pretty reliable; it would've definitely found something if it was there."
"Then that means it's not magic," Shiller said, twirling his fingers. "Perhaps because the development of the Magic Side is so pleasing and has even reached the point where ordinary agents can conduct tests, your line of thinking always circles around this. Anytime you face something impossible, you attribute it to the omnipotent magic."
Natasha furrowed her brows, pondering for a moment, feeling that her thinking was somewhat limited. She said, "Indeed, even without involving magic, there are methods that could achieve this effect. But I don't understand, if it's just about destroying the space station, why bother creating a monster?"
"After all, they have already socially killed Aux with some methods, and the only possible eyewitness can't say anything, so there was no need to leave the camera footage. Wouldn't it have been enough to just blame it entirely on Aux and dissociate themselves from it? Wouldn't that also fulfill their desire to play the heroes?"
"That line of reasoning isn't wrong, but you miscalculate one aspect of human nature."
"What?"
"Greed."
"What the fuck??!!" Nick's roar was so loud it made Coulson's eardrums ache. The tall Black man burst from behind the table like a tiger choosing its prey.
"How could such a monster appear around Earth?! Go get Stephen back here right now. I want to ask what the hell Kamar-Taj and the Holy Sanctuary are doing!!!"
Coulson sighed internally, thinking of Natasha's briefing. Still, he plucked up his courage and said, "Boss, you need to calm down. Natasha says this monster is unlikely to be real. Otherwise, Kamar-Taj would be the first to panic. Don't you know the extent of their extremity?"
Nick calmed down a bit, exhaled, and realized Coulson had a point. When it came to extremism, no one could compare with The Ancient One and the Kamar-Taj led by Strange. If they ever knew of a monster so close to Earth that could threaten nearby installations at any moment, they would undoubtedly rush headlong into the sun to drag the creature out and tear it to pieces.
And if the monster were so powerful that even the mages couldn't detect it, then calling Stephen back now would be like sending lambs to the slaughter. A long-term plan was needed.
The only problem was that the video blatantly slapped S.H.I.E.L.D. in the face. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s duty is to address supernatural incidents that ordinary people can't handle, keeping ordinary lives safe from the threats of demons and ghosts.
Now, not only has a threat emerged, but a major one at that. The catastrophe caused by the appearance of this monster coincides with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s responsibilities to such an extent that Nick felt this was a conspiracy directed at S.H.I.E.L.D. by certain people.
Nick naturally thought of Shiller first, but after some thought, he felt it was not possible, without any other reason than that the conspiracy seemed too simple. So far, there's only been one main thread, or two if you count the unclear situation with Peter and Gwen, and at most three if you include the Turkey Race in Centaurus.
While three threads can't be considered few, on careful consideration, only the Space Station thread posed a somewhat serious crisis, and even that was not one without a solution. If Nick hardened his heart, he alone had the resources to evacuate everyone up there, only potentially losing the Space Station itself.
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If we were to rope in the mages, making them reveal their magic publicly, and all fly up to bring down the space station, that wouldn't be entirely out of the question; moreover, just getting one of those turkeys from Centaurus would resolve the crisis straight away.
Such a solution may seem too numerous and far too simplistic. Had it not been for Nick's insistence on giving ordinary people a chance to exercise crisis prevention and response, the space station disaster would have culminated in a big reunion within three minutes of the incident.
It was unlikely for Shiller to propose such a simple problem. In the past, the seemingly straightforward routes he designed for success actually had only one genuine solution, and even though it appeared simple, it was extremely difficult to achieve. If achieved, it might even be a trap—a trap you knew about from the get-go, yet you had no choice but to leap into.
But Nick, after examining the space station incident from all angles, still couldn't figure out where this unique solution lay.
It could only be said that this incident fits S.H.I.E.L.D. just as well, with so many loopholes that even calling it flawed was an understatement; looking all around, there were nothing but loopholes.
Yet, ironically, like S.H.I.E.L.D., the sheer number of loopholes meant there were none to be found—because with everything being flawed, you wouldn't know where to begin.
Nick and Shiller were on the same wavelength. He believed that the mastermind behind this conspiracy couldn't be very high up the chain. If they knew about Kamar-Taj and Shiller's existence, they wouldn't hatch such a foolish plot. Even with some understanding of Nick, a semi-public figure, they wouldn't be as unguarded as they presently appeared.
In light of this, employing such extradimensional tactics against them felt a bit like overkill. So you want to play the hero game? Let's see who the real hero is.
Nick took a deep breath and, with a grand gesture, said, "To the conference room, I have matters to discuss with leaders from various nations."
Coulson immediately set things up, which really just meant summoning a car. The leaders from various nations were basically gathered in the United Nations assembly hall, only they were arguing in batches.
After the rescue plan had been established, most of the scientific staff went back to their respective tasks, leaving only a few key figures to monitor the overall situation. Now, it was the politicians who were quarreling, fighting over the same old topics. They just had to point fingers and blame a specific country for the incident.
When Nick entered, he arrived just in time to witness the Five Powers finish passing the buck, uniting to decide whose head the black cauldron of blame should land on. Seeing the carefree and grinning representative from India, Nick sneered inwardly.
Howard rushed over to him and said, "Thank God you're here. Please let me go back to the hotel. I don't want to stay here for another second."
Nick knew Howard couldn't bear these prolonged political maneuvers and probably had a sore bottom from sitting, but he couldn't leave yet. Without Howard Stark here, he was an important presence bolstering America's stance. To ensure that the person who should be blamed got blamed, he had to stay a while longer.
Nick looked through the crowd for Chief Zheng of SWORD but couldn't find him. It was only through Howard that he learned the SWORD team had already gone to prepare for the sea rescue. Nonetheless, he did spot a familiar face among the Chinese in the crowd.
"Xu, what are you doing here?" Nick spotted Xu Shang-Chi and called him over. Xu also looked helpless, and he said, "Chief Zheng didn't call me when he left..."
"You fell asleep again, didn't you?" Nick ruthlessly exposed him, then said, "You really should work on falling asleep during meetings. If Coulson were like you, I would have demoted him to level 7 by now."
"Well, boss, I am level 7 now. After you demoted me last time, you forgot to promote me back to level 8..."
"Shut up, Xu, and tell me about China's rescue plan..."
Nick wasn't actually interested in China's rescue plan, but he needed someone to liaise with China. At the very least, he needed to let Chief Zheng know that SWORD had pretty much figured out the level and movements of the troublemaker. If anything went awry, they wouldn't be completely passive—they could even be said to have the upper hand. Hence, they must not panic and needed to keep their cool.
Xu Shang-Chi didn't let Nick down, as soon as Nick left, he swiftly conveyed everything Nick had told him to Chief Zheng. It turned out Nick's precautionary vigilance was warranted, and within less than ten minutes of receiving the message, trouble arose.
Initially, it was a popular TikTok video that sparked the issue. The clip was short, about thirty seconds or so, featuring the terrifying monster that had set off from the Sun and was hurtling towards Aux.
This video differed from the one Natasha had seen earlier: the previous one was shot from a side perspective, showing only half of Aux and felt more like narration and introduction. Although the monster's figure was still astounding, it lacked a sense of immersion.
But this new video seemed to be in the first person, as though the camera was mounted on Aux, capturing the frontal perspective of the monster's onslaught. The moment the monster pounced almost gave even Nick—who was watching the video—a scare, illustrating the oppressiveness of the creature.
After watching the video, something seemed to click for Nick. He immediately turned to Coulson and said, "Go, bring Eddie Brock to me."